Angel In the Dark
by AdmiralKathryn
Summary: B'Elanna is trapped on a planet with Captain Janeway and 78 other crewmwmbers. Thanks have to go to my friend Nancy who came up with the idea of the Purple Swamp Monkeys! Thanks Nance!


Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah. Here we go again. Voyager, its crew, and all other subsidies are owned by none other than….Paramount.  
  
1 Angel in the Dark  
  
It was their sixth, no wait, seventh year in the Delta Quadrant and they seemed to be no closer to home then they were when they destroyed the Caretakers Array. Quite frankly, the entire crew of Voyager was so frustrated that some of them of them had to be sedated.  
  
Kathryn Janeway, the captain of the Federation Starship Voyager was sitting in the briefing room with her senior staff. If they didn't find a planet suitable for shore leave soon, she was sure she'd go mad herself.  
  
"Are there any habitable planets suitable for life support?"  
  
"Yes. There is one Class-M planet in the approaching star system. Estimated time until arrival…approximately 4.2 hours," that report came from the ever-logical Vulcan, Tuvok. He was the Security/Tactical officer aboard Voyager.  
  
"Mr. Paris, set a course for that planet. Dismissed."  
  
The senior officers filed out the door but Seven of Nine stayed behind. She seemed to have something very important on her mind.  
  
"Is there something on your mind Seven?"  
  
"Yes captain. I find it irrelevant to abandon our present course for shore leave. We do not need to waste time that cannot be made up," Seven's voice sounded as if she were back in a Borg cube as part of the collective. You see, Seven of Nine was the designation given to Annika Hansen when she was assimilated into the collective.  
  
"Seven. Look around you. Do you see how inefficient the crew is being? Not getting their work done, being late to shifts..."  
  
"Yes captain."  
  
"Well, unlike you, we can't regenerate and so therefore we need a vacation from work. That is why we are heading for the planet," Captain Janeway was many things but when it came to her crew, she was always (or at least always tried to be) compassionate and understanding if someone didn't understand.  
  
"Oh. I understand now. Thank you captain."  
  
"You're welcome Seven. Oh, the Doctor wants to see you in Sickbay. He says it's time for your monthly maintenance check."  
  
Seven turned around and walked out the door, heading directly for sickbay. Captain Janeway sat down and thought about what she had just talked about with Seven. She knew it was true and she just wished that it would naturally come to Seven one day. And maybe, when they got back to the Alpha Quadrant, there would be technology that could take the remaining 12% of Borg technology out of Seven so she could live a normal life.  
  
At around 2000 hours, a beep from her quarter's door woke her up.  
  
1.1 That's funny, she thought, I don't remember walking to my quarters. Maybe it's just my memory.  
  
"Come in," she called out, while pulling her jacket back on.  
  
The door opened with a rush of air and Tuvok came into the room holding a PADD (a personal access display device. It is a small hand-held device used by Starfleet personnel to record information.) that had information about the planet they were approaching on it. It was called Pallara V and it had four continents on it. Three of which had inhabitants. Captain Janeway thought about having shore leave on one of the habited continents but then she told Tuvok to belay that order thinking of the safety of her crew.  
  
"Captain, are you sure you don't want us to take the shore leave on one of the habited colonies? It would be an exceptional way to experience life on a planet that even Neelix knows nothing about."  
  
"Tuvok. Read me back the information you gathered from the sensor readings."  
  
"Name, Pallara V. Fifth planet in the Quantos star system. Class-M planet. This planet has four continents, three of which are occupied by natives. Vegetation is plentiful and the air has approximately .012% more oxygen than earth's and it is suitable for life support."  
  
"Tuvok, are there any components Voyager can use for energy or other means?"  
  
"If you are talking about the dilithium crystals we are depleting, yes. There is a plentiful amount of them on the planet."  
  
Janeway notified B'Elanna Torres, her chief engineer of this and dismissed Tuvok. She really couldn't take long periods of his logic. It was almost as maddening as being on Voyager this long without shore leave.  
  
When Voyager reached Pallara V, Captain Janeway ordered standard orbit, and put together an away team that consisted of Tuvok, Chakotay (her first officer), Neelix, and B'Elanna.  
  
Once they had transported down, the away team set out to do various tasks. Tuvok to do sensor scans, Chakotay to scout out the continent, Neelix to see if he could find anything of use for his strange concoctions, and B'Elanna to find the dilithium crystals. The only problem was that B'Elanna couldn't do it by herself so she called Captain Janeway and requested another crewman to help her. Janeway sent Seven of Nine. B'Elanna was not very happy because she and Seven didn't get along very well with each other.  
  
"Seven. Could you please quit scanning everything in sight so we can get the dilithium crystals?"  
  
"Negative. This is required work and we would be inefficient if we didn't comply with the captain's wishes. After I do these initial scans, then we can continue on for the dilithium."  
  
Meanwhile, Chakotay had met up with Tuvok and Neelix and they sent up the okay for the shore leave parties to begin beaming down. Chakotay beamed back up to the ship with Tuvok and they both had to work to convince Kathryn to leave the ship. But she discovered that when she finally got on the planet, it was perfect for shore leave. There were a lot of green trees and grass. There were also lakes and a lot of beautiful plants and flowers. Janeway was at total peace on this planet.  
  
Back where Seven and B'Elanna were, they had discovered an entrance to a cave and had transmitted the data back to Commander Chakotay on Voyager. He gave the okay to go in to get the dilithium. Seven and B'Elanna entered the cave turning on their wrist beacons. The cave was instantly illuminated with the light. As they began to walk, they heard a loud rumble over their heads. B'Elanna knew that trouble was coming.  
  
"Torres to Voyager," she screamed as she touched her combadge.  
  
"Voyager here."  
  
"Emergency beam up."  
  
Up on Voyager, a very stressed Harry Kim called to Chakotay that he could only lock on to one of them. The other wasn't registering.  
  
"Energize Mr. Kim. Now!"  
  
Harry beamed the one person aboard and was distressed that he couldn't get the other. Tom Paris, Voyager's helmsman turned around to see who Harry had gotten a lock on and he was very distraught when he saw it was Seven of Nine. He was glad she was safe but if she was here than that meant….  
  
"B'Elanna! No!" he thought.  
  
"Chakotay. Permission to go to the planet's surface."  
  
'Request denied. Sorry Mr. Paris, but it seems that the planet has just erected a force field around itself. We can't send anybody down or beam anyone up."  
  
"And Kathryn is still on that damned planet," he thought out loud.  
  
"Sir? Did I just hear you say Kathryn is on the planet?" asked Harry.  
  
"Sorry Ensign. Just thinking out loud. Can you get a lock on anybody?"  
  
"Negative sir."  
  
Back on the planet, in a cave, her arms and legs trapped under rocks and boulders, B'Elanna thought to herself, "I have to be strong. Someone will realize that I am still trapped in here and come to get me," then everything went black. Her wrist beacon had gone out because a rock had fallen on it. She wished that she could reach her combadge.  
  
"Commander. We have established communication with the captain. Audio only."  
  
"Let's hear it Ensign."  
  
"Janeway to Voyager."  
  
"Chakotay here captain. How are you?"  
  
"I am fine. How many of the crew members did you get beam out?"  
  
"Only one captain. Seven of Nine."  
  
"How many are down here with me?"  
  
"About…"  
  
"Captain, there are approximately 78 crewmembers on the planet," said Tuvok from his console.  
  
"Damn. Can you get a lock on anyone?"  
  
"Negative captain," said Harry.  
  
"Captain. We have a crewmember who is unaccounted for though. B'Elanna. She is still in the cave where the dilithium is. Seven says the rocks from overhead became unstable and fell."  
  
"Something or someone could have made this happen. Can you find the cave Captain and see if you can contact B'Elanna?"  
  
"I advise against it captain," said Tuvok.  
  
"Tuvok. I need to do this to help B'Elanna. It is a human emotion that you wouldn't understand. I'll explain when I get back on Voyager."  
  
That ended the transmission and Janeway headed in the direction that she knew that the cave was in. When she got there, she yelled into the cave and B'Elanna didn't answer. So, taking the risk, Janeway walked in and turned on a wrist beacon. She shined the lights around the cave and found a pile of rubble. But that's not all she found. On top of the pile, there were things that she could only describe as Purple Swamp Monkeys. They were purple, had swamp algae hanging on their bodies, and they strongly resembled monkeys. When they saw the light, they jumped onto a small cliff overhead and watched Janeway examine B'Elanna.  
  
She heard something far away. A voice. A familiar voice. It sounded like….could it be? Yes! It was Captain Janeway. B'Elanna tried to open her mouth to yell out to the captain. Suddenly the captain's voice could not be heard and she lost all hope. All at once a foul stench invaded B'Elanna nostrils. It smelled like a swamp back on the Klingon homeworld.  
  
She opened her eyes but alas, she found that even if they were all the way open, everything was still blurry. The next thing she saw was a face. It was vaguely familiar but she couldn't place it. The face was very serene and angelic looking. That was when B'Elanna recalled a book of early 20th century myths she had read. It said that when you were close to death, there would be a serene, angelic figure that you'd see. They were called angels. B'Elanna knew that this was her angel. Her angel in the dark. Everything went black again.  
  
"Janeway to Voyager. I've found her. She's partially conscious and breathing is erratic. Can you contact anyone else on this planet? See if they can find the shield generator and destroy it. I'll work on getting these rocks off B'Elanna."  
  
Chakotay sent out a message to all the crewmembers that were on the planet to concentrate on finding a shield generator and shutting it off. Neelix had heard the transmission and finished collecting the edible plants, remembering that he had seen the shield generator. He called for a few of the crewmembers that were nearby to put their phasers on stun and follow him. Five minutes later they were inside of the shield generator trying to figure out how to shut it off.  
  
Neelix heard a few high pitched screeches and turned to find himself face-to-face with a giant Purple Swamp Monkey. He had previously encountered the species and was fluent in their language. He explained that they needed to get off the planet because they had an injured crewman who needed medical attention. The monkey seemed to understand and said that they could shut the generator off.  
  
Back on Voyager in sickbay, B'Elanna was laying on a biobed when Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, and Seven of Nine came in to see her. The Doctor gave her a hypospray that woke her up. Carefully she sat up.  
  
"Are you alright now B'Elanna?" asked Janeway.  
  
"Yes, captain. I believe that I am fine."  
  
"I want to thank you for saving me back there. I owe you my life," Seven turned to the Doctor, "I believe that I am feeling an emotion doctor."  
  
"Yes Seven. You are. It is called happiness. You are happy that B'Elanna is all right and you are also experiencing gratefulness. You are grateful to B'Elanna for doing the emergency beam up."  
  
"You're welcome Seven," B'Elanna said, "Maybe we can salvage a small friendship," she thought.  
  
"Captain. I must tell you this. When I was lying under the rocks, I heard your voice calling out to me. Then it was gone. Moments later I saw a face, it looked like yours, and it had a glow around it. I believe it was an angel."  
  
"Captain. Maybe you should tell her that it was you," said Tuvok.  
  
"No Tuvok. Let her have her own thoughts," said Janeway as the Doctor gave B'Elanna a hypospray to help her sleep, "Let her think it was her angel. Her angel in the dark."  
  
Voyager left orbit and resumed their original course for the Alpha Quadrant a day later with a fresh supply of dilithium crystals from the Purple Swamp Monkeys. They said it was the least they could do. Kathryn wondered what they meant by that.  
  
"Wyatt. Come over here. See what I got from the funny person trapped under the rocks."  
  
It was B'Elanna's wrist beacon. It was rumored that the Borg attacked that planet later and extracted the wrist beacon technology. But it was only a rumor, wasn't it?  
  
That night in Voyager's sickbay, B'Elanna had one last dream about her angel in the dark. She thanked it for saving her. Over the biobed, Kathryn Janeway whispered  
  
"You're welcome B'Elanna." 


End file.
